Happy 2015!! I am a bit slow getting out my January newsletter, and this could be the start of
a new trend. A mid-month newsletter? Or quarterly? We'll
see. Hope you had good holidays and are recovering okay from all the fun your
wallet had.
The first part of January, I was at my first ever songwriter retreat put on by Brett Perkins, a Californian who makes
his home in Denmark. Here is one of his fine songs. We gathered near
Santa Cruz, and about half the participants
were from Sweden or Denmark. Here is a video from Annette Bjergfeldt who has had quite a musical career
in Denmark. Don't know what she
is saying but what a voice!! Five days of co-writing, each day with a different
partner -- stimulating and exhausting!! Got seven songs out of it, in various
stages of completion. Here is a co-write with Steve Key, performed at our finale concert. What
a treat to work with him!!
The first part of January, I was at my first ever songwriter retreat put on by Brett Perkins, a Californian who makes
his home in Denmark. Here is one of his fine songs. We gathered near
Santa Cruz, and about half the participants
were from Sweden or Denmark. Here is a video from Annette Bjergfeldt who has had quite a musical career
in Denmark. Don't know what she
is saying but what a voice!! Five days of co-writing, each day with a different
partner -- stimulating and exhausting!! Got seven songs out of it, in various
stages of completion. Here is a co-write with Steve Key, performed at our finale concert. What
a treat to work with him!!
Not gigging much in January or February, working
on my craft: learning Ableton Live looping (Here is a great video on that for you serious music
geeks), and digging deeper into drop D tuning, among other stuff.
More stuff for you musicians. If you haven't
already, sign up for Ari's Take. It is a great blog on current
trends in the music business, which is changing daily if not hourly. Another
good site I just learned about is Indie On The Move, with help for the hardest job of
all: booking!! I need some dates around the Eno River Festival in Durham, North Carolina on the July 4th weekend. (Washington DC down to Durham -- hint, hint
:-)
Other news: I am hot on the trail of finishing my
third CD. All the tracking, mixing and mastering is FINALLY done -- about
a two year process. I hopefully will have "product on the shelves"
in a month. Here is one of the more rocking songs and here's a quieter one, with Aireene Espiritu helping me on the vocal. I am
doing a show with Aireene at the Monkey House in Berkeley
on March 28th. Dulcie Taylor will be playing also. Mark your
calendars!!
I am going to be tagging along with Chappell and Dave Holt on their tour down to LA in early
March and I am looking forward to that. It will be fun to play a bit of the
"jazzier side of Americana" with them,
and to pitch my new CD too. Details on my website calendar.
Your turn -- what have you been up to?
Love to hear from you!!
John
Roy Zat
Croizat
Whatever
Croizat
Whatever
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